Making a movie can often feel like a minefield, as it’s so hard to produce a film without there being one issue in the narrative or direction. Fans on Reddit movies forums have different ideas about what instantly pulls them out of the experience.

  • Reddit movie fans love to talk about what they hate about movies, and when a movie is successful, those fans can really cut loose on what didn’t work for them. However, when a movie is a failure at the box office and with critics alike, there are usually some key ingredients that made the movie hard to enjoy. In 2022, movies like Don’t Worry Darling and Pinocchio were both disappointments for fans and critics, and these movies had several things that Redditors say immediately takes them out of a movie.

The smallest things could ruin a movie, whether it’s some blatant product placement or quickly gaining entry to password-protected computers. And between extras’ bad fight choreography, main characters being invincible, and emotionally intelligent children, these Redditors are a picky bunch, but they raise some valid points.

Falling In Love Too Fast

In romantic comedies and dramas, the entire idea of the movie is for the characters to fall in love. However, this needs to happen as a process, and it shouldn’t be easy. Reddit movie fan Poptartmama wrote that they hated when “two main characters fall in love quickly, especially if they start out hating each other.”

This happens in a lot of romantic movies. Whether it is falling in love at first sight, which rarely ever happens in real life, or instantly falling in love with someone you used to hate. While it is nice to see rivals fall in love in the end, it shouldn’t happen right away, and when there is no struggle to find the love, the story often falls flat.

Breaking Up Because Of Misunderstandings

If there is one thing that is just as frustrating in movies as love at first sight, it is easy breakups. One thing that Reddit movie fans hate is when people break up due to a misunderstanding. Captnbass wrote that they hate it when “the characters have the ‘misunderstanding and break apart’ trope.” He goes on to say that it would have been easy to just look at the situation.

This happens way too much in movies. It takes Reddit movie fans out of the moment because, if the couple breaks up after a miscommunication, they couldn’t have had a stable relationship to begin with. This is also a problem because the viewer has to wonder why they didn’t just wait to hear an explanation before storming out and ending the relationship.

Bad Sound Design

It is hard to watch a movie with a poorly lit picture, but it is possible. However, if there is one thing that can really take a person out of the movie instantly, it is a poorly recorded sound design. This can also be a problem with a major movie that doesn’t level the sound out properly.

One Reddit movie fan named richbeezy wrote their problems were “the volume spikes and drops.” This happens in a lot of action movies. One of the big complaints about Tenet was that the dialogue was often hard to hear and understand, and then the action sequences were explosive and loud.

Bad Exposition

If there is one thing that can really ruin a movie, it is when characters prefer to explain things that happened rather than actually showing things happening. When exposition is done too much, it can really slow down a movie and make a viewer feel they are missing out on something big. Redditor Walter-Lily_05 wrote, “When they force dialogue to put you in “context” at the beginning of a movie.”

If the movie starts off with people giving exposition to catch people up, it is usually because they are following the rule of starting closer to the main action. However, nothing can kill the start of a movie than people talking about things that happened before the movie started. Just start the movie and let viewers catch up.

Shaky Cam

The moment that shaky cam became a popular device in Hollywood movies came when Paul Greengrass directed the second and third Bourne movies, and most of the action scenes had non-stop camera movement. While these movies were hugely popular, it was a technique that turns off a lot of people, including fans on the Reddit movies boards.

Redditor _b1ack0ut wrote, “some movies have really stylish action, and it’s brilliant, others just add the shaky cam onto it and call it a day.” The problem with shaky cam is that it causes motion sickness in many people, especially on a movie screen. However, even worse is when a director doesn’t know what they are doing and no one can follow any of the action as a result.

Background Fighters

Dregoralive hates “background actors in fight/war scenes waiting for their turn to attack the main character” and The Dark Knight trilogy is specifically guilty of this. The three movies make up one of the greatest trilogies of all time, as Batman Begins rebooted the character uniquely, The Dark Knight features an all-time greatest performance, and The Dark Knight Rises is the ambitious and epic finale. However, fight sequences left a lot to be desired, as they are exactly how the Redditor describes.

Rises is the biggest culprit, as the huge final battle between Gotham’s finest and Bane’s army sees them all in one-on-one fights and repeating the same punch-dodge pattern over and over. On top of that, when one extra has nobody to fight on a rooftop, he simply falls to the ground, as if he was pushed by a phantom enemy. These action scenes are something that the Dark Knight trilogy didn’t do right.

Product Placement

Product placement is an obvious issue for most audiences, and even to the untrained eye, viewers know when the film is trying to sell them something. But the unavoidable film practice angers Mushy_cactus the most, who thinks it totally ruins any movie. The Redditor specifies, “When there’s a scene that’s just advertising a brand.”

There have been so many unforgivable uses of product placement over the years, whether it’s characters simply exclusively drinking Coca-Cola or a movie being made with the sole purpose of selling something, such as The Internship. However, there have also been so many creative and hilarious uses of product placement, such as when Wayne is refusing to sell out whilst eating Pizza Hut and wearing a Reebok tracksuit in Wayne’s World.

Surviving Explosions

Wild_Entertainment56 is sick of seeing characters survive explosions and other kinds of fatal accidents. The Redditor notes, “When the heroes survive an overblown car crash that would’ve crippled or killed most people, only to walk away with a scratch. It’s not very realistic, even for an action movie.” While characters can’t look all bloody because then the movie would be rated higher than a PG-13, it’s pretty unbelievable when their face is a little dirty after surviving an explosion.

Almost every single action movie or superhero flick is guilty of this, whether it’s in Spider-Man: No Way Home or The Batman. In The Batman, the caped crusader was just a couple of feet away from District Attorney Gil Colson, who had a bomb strapped to his neck, and Batman knew the bomb was going to go off in mere seconds. Instead of keeping a safe distance, he stays close to Gil up to the very point the bomb goes off.

The Uncanny Valley

Instead of casting younger actors to portray young versions of main characters, movie studios are now using digital effects to make actors look like how they did decades ago, and when it’s done poorly it’s known as the “uncanny valley.” Oggmonster42 has a major problem with this, specifically stating, “When they use CGI to make an almost 80-year-old man look like a 40-year-old, but he still moves like an 80-year-old when trying to kick a poor shopkeeper’s ass.”

The Redditor is not so subtly referring to The Irishman, as Robert De Niro was digitally de-aged, but any action sequences showed his real age. And while de-aging is getting more and more convincing with each passing year, all suspension of disbelief is lost when the older actors are required to run or fight. It was the same case with Captain Marvel, as Samuel L. Jackson’s younger look is jaw-dropping, but it’s less convincing in any instance where he’s running.

Smart Kids

Datasfalling hates seeing “children that are emotionally/philosophically/linguistically intelligent far beyond their years.” The Redditor clearly isn’t a fan of Matilda, School of Rock, or any other movies based on child prodigies. It’s a trope that is extremely common in film but obviously quite rare in real life.

Even celebrated auteur Quentin Tarantino hasn’t been able to avoid this cliché, as Once Upon a Time In Hollywood features Trudi Frazer (Julia Butters), a 10-year-old acting genius who even taught Rick Dalton what he should already know. However, according to Indie Wire, Tarantino did cut an additional scene with her from the movie, and he claims that scene would have gotten Butters an Academy Award nomination.

Protagonist Invincibility

Roostertails47 thinks the movie is ruined as soon as the main character seems to be invincible. The Redditor details, “Main characters being invincible while everyone else dies from one punch. I get that the main characters have to survive or they wouldn’t be main characters, but at least make the damage somewhat realistic.” Protagonist invincibility is more common now than it ever has been, and it’s only getting more common even outside of the superhero genre.

The biggest culprit is the Fast and Furious series, as Dom and the rest of the crew fall from great heights and survive death-defying stunts several times in every movie. In F9, Tej and Rome somehow go into space and safely arrive back on Earth. And even characters who do die end up coming back to life.

Passwords

Any kind of action movie that involves the military and gaining some sort of access will undoubtedly feature that token scene of sussing out a computer password. It happens so much in the Mission: Impossible movies that it’s almost expected at this point. But it’s a trope that has gone on for way too long according to KungFu-omega-warrior.

The Redditor hates “when people figure out someone’s password in literally no time.” When it comes to locked computers in movies, characters briefly have better deduction skills than Sherlock Holmes. But in reality, when security is more important than it ever has been and passwords require a certain amount of capital letters, numbers, and special icons, there’s no getting in.

Miscasting

Warkitz thinks miscasting ruins a movie, noting, “When you know an actor was chosen for the role for their fame and not for the casting.” The Redditor makes a good point, and it’s a detriment to the quality of many movies. The most recent example of this is Uncharted, the movie adaptation of the beloved video game.

One of the reasons gamers are such big fans of the game isn’t actually for the gameplay, but for the characters Nathan Drake and Sully. Unfortunately, Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, who play those characters in the movie, look, sound, and act nothing like them, but those names are going to get butts in seats at multiplexes.

Villains’ Motives

Anotheratretochoana points to the villains when it comes to movie-ruining moments. The Redditor explains, “When the villain is just bad for no reason whatsoever.” The user makes a lot of sense, as a surprising amount of villains are bad for no reason and don’t actually have a point, and there are many movie villains fans consider the worst.

Between Dr. Octopus in Spider-Man 2 and Two-Face in The Dark Knight, it’s hard to understand why they turned evil. And the James Bond series is the prime example, as so many of them want to destroy the world or kill 007 for reasons that don’t totally make sense, and that’s if they even have a reason.

Darkness

Buddyknowles hates “when it’s so dark you actually can’t see what is happening. Also, characters that mumble their lines. Drives me nuts.” The Redditor mustn’t be a fan of The Batman, as the new superhero movie is both extremely dark and Robert Pattinson’s depiction of the caped crusader is the darkest he’s ever been.

However, the darkness might not be a problem with the movie, but it could be an issue at the user’s go-to movie theater. Some theaters display films at a lower brightness than they should to make the screen’s bulbs last longer and save money. According to Insider, many reported that this is what was done by many multiplexes for Solo: A Star Wars Story.